Jason Cannon
2/18/14
Russia
This article is focused more on the United States views than Russia's views, but still gives some good information about Russia's stance on the Syrian crisis and their relationship with the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/world/middleeast/russia-is-scolded-as-us-weighs-syria-options.html?hpw&rref=world
Synopsis:
Both Kerry and President Obama are critical of Russia's actions in the Syria crisis and have recently expressed their frustration. Kerry said that the Russian government was "contributing so many more weapons" to the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. He also said they are "enabling Assad to double down, which is creating an enormous problem." When speaking about President Obama, one Western Official said, "I've never seen him more frustrated . . ." Russia does support the Syrian government while the US supports the Syrian rebels. Previously, Russia and the United States had made agreements to sponsor peace talks as well as to get rid of the chemical weapons Syria possessed even though they both took a different stance on the issue. Any positive relationship between the US and Russia on this issue is falling apart as demonstrated by the comments of Kerry and President Obama.
Comments:
This issue highlights how different the United States and Russia are. They both have taken very different sides on this issue. I have a hard time understanding why Russia would support Assad in his violence against the people, but I am sure that their reasons would be just as good as the reasons of the United States in previous situations. I think Assad's actions are completely wrong and that the current Syrian government should not be in power, but I acknowledge that Russia might find it beneficial to keep them in power. They probably have economic and political ties to this issue that are not seen by many in the US. It is amazing how complicated foreign relations are and how difficult it is to compromise.
I'm with you on this. I don't really know much about Russia's relationship with Syria, but it's probably so much more complicated (and possibly logical) than we think it is.
ReplyDeleteThis was not a pretty moment for the U.S., we rallied for support especially towards the EU countries and not even our own allies were in favor of supporting us. But then, all of a sudden Russia steps in and magically saves the day by settling with Syria which was after the U.S. had to do the dirty work in front of the world.
ReplyDeleteJiffy, Russia settled things in Syria?
ReplyDeleteForeign relations are definitely so complicated. We criticize other countries for making seemingly irrational decisions when we often do the same thing. I think that more often than we would like, we have to accept that we may not fully understand a country's reasoning for their actions, but they have their own reasons just as we have ours.